When Gifts Fail
by Stormikat
Summary: A cat with a special gift suddenly dies, shocking her siblings because it should have never happened. Now the she-cats must accept what has happened and find a way to live without her.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter_

_Here's my attempt at a short story. These are mostly my characters from other stories, but has cats from the Erins.  
_

_Summery: The she-cat triplets: Sunstorm, Fawnfur, and Morningsong, daughters of Cinderheart and an unknown tom, were born with strange gifts. Sunstorm saw the future, Fawnfur the past, and Morningsong the present. Sunstorm sees a future of the three of them leading ThunderClan to greatness. But an unfortunate occurrence happens, and now the future Sunstorm expected has changed. Each sister handles the event in different ways: anger or acceptance. Who will move on and who will remain in darkness?_

* * *

**Past: Fawnfur  
**

They brought the news back that evening. Sunstorm had died.

I stared at them for the longest time, not comprehending. How? How had this happened?

"Where's Morningsong?" I asked. I was surprised to hear my voice come out so calmly. Inside I was shaking. She'd died? That wasn't possible!

"We met her just outside camp," Millie answered, her eyes lowered. "We told her and she took off. I'm sorry, I don't know where."

"It's okay," I meowed faintly. By now I was looking passed Millie. My mind was on other things, not that Sunstorm had died, but that it had even happened. We'd had a destiny. Sunstorm dying wasn't part of it. She was meant to be leader of ThunderClan.

"The stream just suddenly overflowed," Berrynose was explaining. "It had to be the snow melting up near the Moonpool. Some tree branch came down and knocked her into the water while she was drinking. She had to be unconscious because she just went under. I promise we looked. We followed as far as we could see her. Then Thornclaw said we should wait at the lake. When we got there, we saw her body on the shore. She wasn't breathing."

Berrynose sounded like he was having trouble explaining. A death of a Clan mate wasn't something any cat took lightly. Especially an unexpected death like this. A cat expected death in battle or from other animals, not a suddenly violent stream that was usually calm. I could barely understand it myself. Sunstorm was just gone so abruptly. Just this morning we'd been joking and laughing about how one of these day's she'd have Owlface for her mate. The tom had seen us and looked a bit embarrassed, but proud at the same time that Sunstorm would want him.

"Thank you for telling me," I meowed. My voice was still so dead. It sounded fake as if it were not my own.

"Dovetooth is bringing her body," Berrynose meowed.

I nodded again barely registering what the tom said. I knew that I was one of the first cats to know about this death. Firestar was going to be told soon. He'd come out of his den to announce it to the whole Clan eventually. Cinderheart, our mother, was the third cat to hear about it. I knew I should have gone to comfort her, but I was worried about Morningsong. She must have been taking it hard. She was the one that was supposed to see the present. Why had her gift failed her?

I shook myself. I couldn't think such things. Morningsong had to be beating herself over it. Now I had to make my choice. Was I supposed to go to my only living sister, or go to my mother? My heart was torn. Why had Morningsong run away? Why did she make me the one to chose?

I hadn't realized Millie and Berrynose had left. Not until I heard a cry of anguish did I realize they were no longer beside me but had gone to Firestar's den. I quickly stood up and raced to the warriors' den. My mother was already inside, preparing for sleep. I was the assigned night guard and, other than the evening patrol, was the only cat outside.

When I stuck my head into the den, I saw many cats surrounding Cinderheart. I couldn't tell who'd told her the news. Her gray fur could barely be seen through all the pelts of the other cats that tried to comfort her with licks or whispers of consolidation even though they weren't sure what she was in pain over. I hastily pushed through them to come to my mother's side.

"Cinderheart?" I meowed.

She was gasping for breath now, her eyes tightly closed. It was like she was trying to block out the world.

"Give her space!" I yelled at my Clan mates. They hastily backed off, surprised at me. I usually didn't yell. My voice is usually soft. That was the only way they could tell the difference between me and my sisters. That and the one white spot on my ear.

"Sunstorm?" Cinderheart whispered, her eyes suddenly opening.

"No, Mother," I answered, my voice quieter.

I walked up to her and buried my head into her soft fur.

"Oh, Fawnfur," she meowed with a sudden sigh.

"Let's go outside," I told her, pulling away.

She nodded and swiftly left with me. I was glad when the rest of the Clan didn't follow. I couldn't stand their closeness. I knew they meant well, but they just didn't understand!

The chilly newleaf night air hit us as we left the warm warriors' den. It managed to clear my head. It must have cleared Cinderheart's as well because she was calmer now. We went to the fallen tree in the quarry and sat down on it, our pelt's brushing each others. Cinderheart leaned into me.

"She was a good warrior," Cinderheart meowed suddenly. Her voice was full of emotion.

"She was," I nodded. I sensed at this time I needed to keep silent. My mother was going to tell me all the great things she remembered about my sister. In the past I could see it was important for cats to do that to move on with life. I knew at some point I would have to accept my sister's death, but right now it made no sense to me.  
"She always loved newleaf," Cinderheart continued. "She loved to watch the butterflies around the flowers. Even as a kit. She was so smart for her age. She wasn't surprised when it started snowing. She seemed to know what it was even when you and Morningsong were shocked. She knew how to catch it on her tongue, how to form pictures in the snow. She was a quick learner as an apprentice. She could even beat Lionblaze, as if she knew all his moves."

Cinderheart had an amused smile on her face. I shared it with her. Only the three of us knew the real reason for that. Sunstorm had seen the future. Of course she could predict the moves of her mentor.

Suddenly Cinderheart sighed. I looked over at her. "I should be the one consoling you, not the other way around."

"Everyone needs to be consoled," I answered calmly. "You mostly at this time."

"What about Morningsong?" Cinderheart asked. Then she got worried. "Where is she?" She looked around as if searching for her other daughter.

"I don't know," I answered. "She was told, but she disappeared. I'm sure she's fine. I do want to go to her, but you need me."

"You should find her," Cinderheart meowed. "I couldn't bare to lose another of you," she whispered.

"Morningsong will be safe," I meowed. At least I hope she would. I felt worried. If one of us had died, would another? My breath caught.

"Oh," Cinderheart moaned.

I realized that two cats were dragging my sister through the tunnel. Her light ginger and brown pelt with the brown spots looked so alive it was hard to imagine that she was doing anything but sleeping. It was only when they placed her down did I see her gray stained white underbelly and the awful gash on her face made from the branch. It had peeled the skin and fur from her face. She really was dead.

I felt my eyes widen as I started at her. I heard my mother start to sob. I turned to her and buried by head in her fur once more. Why did this have to happen!

Eventually I recovered. I felt Cinderheart's head on top of mine. Her breathing was harsh.

"I'll go get Jayfeather," I whispered.

"What for?" Cinderheart asked just as quiet.

"We need thyme," I answered.

I knew the herb would calm us. And we both needed calming at the moment. Finally my mother nodded. I slowly turned away from her. I couldn't even look at my sister's dead body as I walked to the quarry wall. I felt guilt as I left my mother with the body. But I noticed Dovetooth walking to her. Thornclaw went to report to Firestar.

I hurried up the quarry wall, my feet scrambling along the rock. It wasn't very dark because the moon was still mostly full. The Gathering had just been three nights ago. I could remember the fun time my sisters and I had going to our first one as warriors long ago. It had been many moons since then but I could still remember it. It was so strange to think as this Gathering being our last.

I entered the den. I could see Toadheart right away. He was already sleeping. I felt a rush of jealously burst through me. He was in the position I wanted. I was going to be a medicine cat apprentice. Sunstorm had promised I would be.

Once when we were kits, and had discovered our unique gifts of seeing into time, we'd each discovered our role in life. Our destinies. Sunstorm was our help with that. She could see the future. She saw herself with the name of Sunstar. She saw me as her medicine cat and she saw Morningsong as the deputy. Our gifts would help us with our positions. Sunstorm would know how to protect the Clan against coming hardships, Morningsong (who saw present events) would know what the other Clan's were planning to do to us, and I with the gift of past seeing, would know how to care for my Clan. I would have the knowledge of all the past medicine cats of all the Clans. I would be the greatest medicine cat the lake and forest had ever seen.

Sunstorm had told me that one day, Toadheart would become tired of being the medicine cat apprentice. He would realize it wasn't the life for him and that he wanted to be a warrior and wanted to have a mate. He would tell Jayfeather he couldn't manage anymore. Jayfeather would have to take on a new apprentice. Sunstorm told me it would be my choice to ask Jayfeather if I could take the role of the apprentice, or I could continue to be a warrior. I knew in my heart that I would choose the medicine cat.

But now Sunstorm was dead. Her promises and prophesies seemed like nothing now. She'd died, so didn't that mean all she'd said was dead with her? What promise did I have now that I would be the medicine cat and that Toadheart would leave his mentor's side? It suddenly hit me. Sunstorm had been my solid stone that kept me in place and on track. Without her I knew nothing. I didn't know what was going to happen. That worried me.

"Fawnfur?"

I looked up from the black and white tom in his nest. I saw the blind gray tom farther in the den.

"Yes, Jayfeather," I nodded.

"Something happened." It wasn't a question. I knew that he knew. I had seen the past so I knew his gifts. He probably knew mine with his mind reading abilities. We would have made the best team.

"Sunstorm is dead. My mother and I need some thyme."

Jayfeather nodded. He quickly turned away.

I sat down and waited. My shoulders were hunched as I finally wondered what life without Sunstorm would be like.

Just as Jayfeather came back with herbs in his mouth, I heard Firestar call the Clan.

* * *

**By now you probably realize that the Three's gift is kind of strange. If things don't make sense by the end, tell me and I'll try to explain more.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter  
Disclaimer 2: I do not own "Next"_

"Here is the thing about the future. Every time you look at, it changes, because you looked at it, and that changes everything else." -Cris Johnson "Next" 2007

* * *

**Future: Sunstorm**

The cold taste of the water was on her tongue. It tasted a bit muddy. A warning sounded in her head just as the water rose to her paws and started to go higher.

A burst of color went through her head. A picture painted in her mind.

_She saw a cat on the bank of a stream near the WindClan border. A few stars were coming out in the darkening sky. The setting sun sent blood-red streaks on the lake water. She watched the cat on the bank as it drank the stream water. The cat seemed oblivious to the large branch hurdling down the side of the stream. It had been secure farther up, but the swelling water had knocked the branch loose from its hold and now it was coming downstream. It hit the cat along the bank._

_She watched the cat slip into the stream. The branch pushed the cat under the water. The cat did not struggle. It had been knocked unconscious. The other cats, standing nearby the she-cat who'd been previously drinking, cried out in shock. Two of them attempted to jump into the water after the drowning cat, but their companions held them back._

_"Hurry," a golden tom meowed. "Follow the branch."_

_They raced down the stream bank, following the branch. The she-cat in the water bobbed up only two more times, her ginger and brown pelt obvious in the white-blue water. Then the cat went under and was not seen again._

_"Let's go to the lake," Thornclaw meowed subdued. "Her body will be there."_

_The rest of the evening patrol nodded and stopped watching the water. They ran to the lake as fast as they could._

Suddenly Sunstorm felt brought back to herself with a jerk. She stared up the stream and watched the branch as it collided into her head. Then she knew nothing.

**_-Line-_**

There was the soft sound of breathing and a warm tongue brushed over her fur. She imagined she was a kit again, in the den with her mother. It was cozy. The smell of the soft night was in her nose.

"Wake up, Sunstorm," the voice meowed.

That wasn't her mother.

Sunstorm's eyes snapped open. A small gray and white she-cat with the glint of stars in her fur was wrapped around Sunstorm. Sunstorm flinched away and stood up. Her legs gave out from under her. That was when she noticed the other cats with her. There were nine of them. Each glowed with the stars. Each were cats Sunstorm knew she'd met before, but not at this time. They were cats she'd not yet spoken to. The cats that were supposed to give her nine lives when she became leader of ThunderClan after Bramblestar. She wasn't supposed to be seeing them yet. Brambleclaw wasn't even leader yet. This was too soon!

"What am I doing here?" Sunstorm demanded, her eyes on each of the nine cats.

A few shared glances. Finally one got up the courage to reply.

"You died, Sunstorm."

Sunstorm stared at him. Died? She glanced down. Her light ginger and brown tabby fur glimmered silver.

"No," she shook her head as she lifted a paw. The stars flowed with it, leaving an afterglow in the area it passed through. "Get it off!"

She flicked her paw as she would to get water off of it. But the stars did not leave. They were a part of her.

"I'm not dead," Sunstorm insisted.

"You are," a few other cats nodded.

"I wasn't supposed to die!" she stared at them all, denying that they were there. She wasn't supposed to be dead. She was still on the evening patrol, still protecting her Clan, and most of all, still living. She couldn't be in StarClan. There was still so much to do. What about her vision?

"I'm supposed to be leader!" Sunstorm meowed, looking at the nine cats. "You're supposed to be at my ceremony."

They all nodded as if they knew. Well of course, they were StarClan after all, Sunstorm reasoned. They knew these things.

"Why am I here?" Sunstorm demanded.

"You drowned," Hazeltail replied.

The vision of the branch filled Sunstorm's mind. She went through the scene. Then it hit her. Why hadn't she known this would happen. Why had the warning come too late?

"I'm not supposed to be dead," Sunstorm meowed, shaking her head.

"No," Bluestar agreed. She was among the other seven cats that surrounded Sunstorm in a ring. Sunstorm turned her attention to the previous ThunderClan leader.  
"Then why am I? Why didn't you do anything? Why wasn't I warned?" Sunstorm hissed, suddenly angry. Why hadn't she been warned!

"We can't do everything," Bluestar meowed. "We didn't see this coming until the moment the branch came for you. We warned you in the time we could."

"It wasn't enough," Sunstorm answered coldly.

She'd had a life ahead of her. A wonderful mate and a whole Clan behind her. She would have taken ThunderClan back to greatness. She couldn't be dead yet. What were Fawnfur and Morningsong going to do without her?

"Don't be angry," Hazeltail meowed, comforting.

"How can I not?" Sunstorm yowled, standing up, her head thrown back as she yelled out all her anger. She shouldn t have been there. She wasn't supposed to be dead! How could StarClan let this happen to her! She soon exhausted herself. Her voice grew hoarse. When she looked back three cats had left. A few others looked annoyed, two looked sympathetic, and the others were sad.

"Go," Bluestar meowed, waving her tail to the other cats. "She needs some time alone to accept this. Hazeltail will show her around."

They quickly left, leaving Sunstorm with her new guide. Bluestar nodded and left with them.

Hazeltail got closer to Sunstorm, the ginger-brown she-cat flinched away.

"The sooner you accept it, the easier it will be."

"I won't accept it," Sunstorm answered her voice harsh.

"In time you will," Hazeltail replied. "There have been many cats that haven't at first. In the end they realize how much more they have here."

It was as if she were speaking from experience. She had died abruptly in an attack two leaf-falls ago.

"I had more in my Clan," Sunstorm hissed, pushing the thought out of her head.

Hazeltail looked away. "Follow me," she meowed, not looking at the angry she-cat. "I have some things to show you. I can even show you ThunderClan."

Sunstorm's ears pricked. See her Clan again? She quickly nodded.

Hazeltail gave a small smile and led the way. Sunstorm quickly noticed how the place she'd waken up in was a small dark hollow. The soft grass beneath their feet and the leaves above rustled with an unfelt breeze. Sunstorm realized she could hear mouse squeaks from the bushes around the ring of trees. She felt her mouth water.

"You can hunt," Hazeltail meowed, fully smiling now. "That is one advantage to being dead. There is always food."

"I'm not dead," Sunstorm muttered darkly. Dead cats didn't feel hunger. She quickly caught a mouse. It tasted like the juiciest thing she'd ever eaten. One was enough for her. She followed Hazeltail with a livelier step. They left the ring of trees and Sunstorm saw something she'd never seen before.

There were cats everywhere. Laying on rocks in bright patches of sunlight, groups of cats from all Clans laughing together as they shared stories, kits as they tussled in joy and young bodies that would last forever, and apprentices with their new mentors as they mock battled. Sunstorm could hardly take it in. And those were just the cats.

The landscape was immense. Sunstorm realized she was on a small hill. She could see a large area of wide, open land like in WindClan, small and large pockets of forests like in ShadowClan and ThunderClan. There was also a lake and many streams coming off of it, weaving around forests, boulders, and grassy land. This was StarClan. A mixture of all Clans. And it looked as if there was no end. The horizon went on forever.

"This is the sky," Hazeltail explained. "The area by the lake is ours as it is the Clans'. The horizons are the skies of other lands. We can travel across them if we need to, but it is hard. It is hard to come back if we go far. Only a few cats are able to find their way. Feathertail can cross here and into the skies of the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Do you see the mountains?"

Sunstorm quickly looked where she pointed. Large jagged mountains reach far into the sky that really wasn't a sky. Sunstorm realized she didn't even see the sun and yet its light was everywhere. She also didn't see any clouds or the moon. The sky was just light blue everywhere. Finally she turned her attention back to the mountains. They were far, but they didn't look like they'd be hard to get to. She said so to Hazeltail.

"They don't look that way, I know," the small gray and white she-cat grinned, "But once you start, you'll be surprised at how lost you get."

"So how did StarClan follow the Clans here from the forest?" Sunstorm asked.

"The Clan's faith in us helped StarClan follow them," Hazeltail meowed quietly. "If they didn't believe in us anymore, we'd have no connection to them and we'd lose our way and they'd lose their way to us."

That made Sunstorm sad, because far into the future she'd seen the Clans falling away from StarClan and giving up the warrior code. She'd seen them go back to a state that Fawnfur had told her the Clans came from. A state that could make them no longer be called Clans. But that was so far in the future it hadn't bothered Sunstorm at the time.

"You see the divide?" Hazeltail was asking.

Sunstorm looked up and just over a forest, she thought she could see a long black scar in the ground. It stretched from horizon to horizon, but wasn't very wide.

"Yes," Sunstorm meowed.

"A new StarClan is forming over there," Hazeltail explained looking back at Sunstorm.

"A new one?" Sunstorm was shocked.

"Yes," Hazeltail nodded. "It's Raven's Clan. Coonie, Macky, and Brackenkit are the only cats now, but others will join them eventually. A few cats from our StarClan can visit them by crossing the divide in the early morning and in the afternoon. They can't come to us."

That interested Sunstorm. There was so much about StarClan she hadn't known. Or even supposed.

"I'll show you more later," Hazeltail promised. "Now we have to see your Clan."

Sunstorm eagerly followed her over to the lake. A few cats saw them and called out greetings. Only a few knew Sunstorm and she knew them. Others she'd never seen before. They had to be from the past, she supposed. The far past. There were so many cats there in StarClan and Sunstorm was sure this wasn't all of them. She asked Hazeltail where they all slept.

"A few live together," Hazeltail answered as they walked. "Others sleep alone. It's whatever suites them. Thunder, Shadow, Wind, and River, sleep all the time now. They don't often get up. The older cats tend to sleep a lot. They aren't remembered as much and they're tired of doing the same things again and again. They just aren't needed. Usually it's the kits or the recent dead that are the most active."

Sunstorm was going to ask her more when she noticed they'd reached the lake. Sunstorm was surprised when she looked into the water and didn't see the bottom or the clear sky reflected. Instead she saw forest. Sunstorm gasped and pulled away.

"What is this?" she hissed, scared. It was as if she could fall through the water and be back in the world she'd been abruptly pulled from.

"A place to watch," Hazeltail replied. "You can look into the water and see all of the lake area or one Clan or one particular cat. Many of us can look in and see many things. There's another, smaller pond over the Moonpool. That is the place for prophesies and talking to cats. This is only a place to observe."

"Where's the other pond?" Sunstorm asked quickly. If she could just get there, maybe she could go back to ThunderClan.

"A hidden place," Hazeltail answered, wise to Sunstorm's thoughts. "You might go one day. Usually it s for the leaders and medicine cats. The rest of us only go on occasion for big prophesies."

Sunstorm was disappointed.

"Now, look into the water and think of your Clan," Hazeltail instructed.

Sunstorm found it easier to close her eyes as she thought about the clan. She was surprised that the first thing her mind came to was the way the quarry used to be.

_She was just coming out of the nursery. She was small again. The smell of milk and her mother was around her. She left the den to see a brown tabby with silver markings. It was Fallingpaw. Sunstorm felt a rush of joy go through her. When she was young, she loved to see the apprentice. The apprentice was important. Sunkit's dreams were filled with the she-cat and what she'd become._

_Fallingpaw saw Sunkit and grew tense. Sunstorm hadn't understood for the longest time that she and her sisters bothered the older she-cat. Their identical looks and way they spoke unnerved the apprentice. Especially how they seemed to know everything about her. Sunstorm, though, only thought highly of the she-cat. Her sisters had followed Sunstorm and her opinions throughout everything, even when Fallingpaw had hurt another Clan member_.

That was the way Sunstorm remembered ThunderClan. The quarry and the cats she admired. When she opened her eyes and looked into the lake that wasn't what she saw. She couldn't bring back the past.

Instead what met her eyes was her own dead body. The face was broken and the fur and the skin hanging off. Sunstorm's eyes widened and she stared breathlessly into her own open staring eyes. She shook, stunned and scared.

"We have suffered a tragedy," a weak voice meowed. "One of our young warriors has died. Sunstorm was on the border patrol this evening and she was knocked into the stream by a branch."

Sunstorm looked away from her broken body and saw Firestar on the High Ledge. The old tom was hunched over. The silver on his muzzle and his eyes that barely saw confessed his pain and his age. He looked over his Clan. Sunstorm could see them as well. Though it was night in the Clan, she could see them clearly. They all looked depressed.

"The stream had risen because of the sudden warm weather and the heavy snows we had this leaf-bare melted too quickly," Firestar explained. "Sunstorm drowned. She joined StarClan this night. We will hold vigil for her through the night and bury her in the morning."

Sunstorm felt herself choke. She really was dead. This proved it. There was her body. There was her Clan starting to hold vigil. She couldn't deny it any longer. She wasn't going back. She closed her eyes on the scene, refusing to see anymore.

Hazeltail pressed herself against Sunstorm. They didn't say a thing but sat by the lake for a long time. Sunstorm sat vigil for herself, only listening to the soft lap, lap of the waves from the lake. Her fur glittered with star light and she could now feel the gentle breeze that moved the grass and the leaves.

* * *

**What did you think of StarClan?**


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter_

* * *

**Present: Morningsong**

"Why did this have to happen?" Morningsong yowled.

She glared at the stars in anger. The new leaves on the trees did not hide the cold sky from her. She glared at StarClan in hatred. They'd let her sister die. They hadn't warned Sunstorm of the danger she faced on the patrol. Sunstorm always knew what would happen. She wouldn't have allowed herself to die. StarClan had been working against her.

Morningsong didn't know where her and her sisters' powers came from. They'd just suddenly realized they'd had them a few moons after their births. Each had a gift. Morningsong saw the present.

She could remember that first memory. It seemed like a dream. It was as if Morningsong was looking down from a tree, then she was right there. Morningsong had seen Brindlepaw stalking a mouse. The she-cat was hiding in the bushes, her yellow eyes on the mouse as it pushed through the greenleaf dirt, building a den. It had to have been a young mouse because it wasn't watching the area around it. Morningsong watched, Brindlepaw sneak forward on silent paws and then lunge forward. As the apprentice's teeth closed around the mouse, Morningsong (then Morningkit) woke up.

She hadn't thought much about the dream, she was just a kit after all, but when Sunstorm started predicting things that she'd said she saw in her dreams, Morningsong brought up her own dreams. Fawnfur had confessed her own dreams of past cats. The sisters realized they had something special. And in the way of kits, they decided that was an awesome secret. They trained each other to speak at the same time, following Sunstorm's direction because she seemed to know what they should say. Soon it just became automatic, but because it made Cinderheart confused and nervous, the kits didn't do it often around her or the older cats.

They had particularly bothered one apprentice. Sunstorm said she was important. It had been Fallingpaw and it turned out she was important, but Morningsong hadn't known that at the time. She'd just trusted Sunstorm. She looked up to Sunstorm because of all she knew. Sunstorm had given them hope and direction. Morningsong liked the idea of becoming the deputy of her sister. She'd follow her anywhere. Fawnfur had been perfect for medicine cat and Sunstorm for leading the Clan. For a while, Morningsong had worried what she'd become. There were only two important roles in the Clan, but Sunstorm had promised to make her deputy. Morningsong had looked foward to that day. Now the day would never happen. Sunstorm would not become leader, would never give Morningsong the position.

Morningsong felt rage fill her at the thought. Everything that was supposed to happen wouldn't. Just because Sunstorm had died. Morningsong knew her sister hadn't chosen that, but still, why hadn't she seen it?

_Why didn't I?_ Morningsong thought, her mind suddenly bleak. The rage had left as she admitted to herself her real reason for her anger.

"Why did I see it?" Morningsong whispered. Why did she have to be told to know what had happened to her sister? When Millie and Berrynose told her just outside of camp, Morningsong had been unaware of the event. Why hadn't she seen it and been prepared?

Was her gift not working either? Had their powers finally run out? Sunstorm hadn't seen her death and Morningsong hadn't seen the event as it happened. Of course the gifts didn't always work when they wanted them to. That was a learned process, to block out ones they didn't want to see and during times they couldn't be distracted. The three had started to learn how to make certain visions come to them of the things they wanted to see. The three might know many things, but they didn't know all things. That frustrated Morningsong.

"What is the use of our gifts?" she asked herself. They hadn't helped her, they hadn't helped Sunstorm. The only one who really used hers and prospered was Fawnfur. The past was always useful. Fawnfur didn't repeat the mistakes of the past and she could tell really good stories. The kits viewed her in awe. When she told a story, it was like they were really there.

"Fawnfur is so lucky," Morningsong spat. "Why couldn't I have a gift like hers?"

What was Fawnfur doing now? Morningsong wondered. Was she moping and sad or was she with Cinderheart, helping?

Morningsong felt a bit guilty. Maybe she shouldn't have run off after learning about the death. She should have stayed and comforted her mother as well. Sunstorm shouldn't have had to die. Shouldn't have left her family miserable.

Morningsong frowned.

"I hate you," she hissed, looking back at the stars. "I won't ever believe in you again! You did nothing to help! StarClan is a lie!"

"Hardly a lie."

Morningsong's head snapped to where the voice had come from. She could barely make out a dark she-cat hiding under a bush. The yellow eyes stared out at her. It was almost like she wasn't there at all. Even the other she-cat's ginger belly blended into the shadows.

"They haven't done anything for me," Morningsong growled, instantly tense. Something was wrong.

"But they're still there, you think?"

Morningsong didn't answer. Who was this she-cat and why was she there? She sniffed, trying to catch a scent, but there was nothing.

"Do you want revenge against them?" It was a polite voice and yet held meaning.

"I would," Morningsong meowed. Yes she wanted revenge. They'd let her sister die and had blocked her gift from seeing it happen. They were cruel to her so she would be cruel to them.

"I could teach you," the dark she-cat meowed. Then her tail flicked. "But there is another who could teach you better than I. However, you know too much about him to accept him at this time. So I will be your first mentor."

"Who?" Morningsong questioned. Who was this tom the she-cat thought could do better?

"That isn't important right now," the she-cat answered, her eyes looking over her shoulder. "You should get back to camp. I will see you again."

Then the she-cat faded into nothing. The shadows had just swallowed her.

"She was never really there was she?" Morningsong asked herself. She felt disappointed. At the same time she felt relief. She didn't like that strange cat. There was something odd about her, but revenge against StarClan interested Morningsong.

"I should get back to camp," she sighed to herself. She turned away and walked slowly back to camp. Sunstorm's body would probably be there by now. She could sit vigil for her sister this night and maybe hope things got back to normal. That she stopped seeing things in the night.

As she walked away, she did not see the two cats who sat side-by-side. The dark she-cat had brought back company. It was a dark-brown tabby tom. But it wasn't one she'd walked beside in the mortal world. It was a cat who'd been dead long before her.

"She will work," the tom meowed. His amber eyes narrowed. "She will work."

**The End**

* * *

**I suppose you could all guess who he is. (edit: I'll tell you anyway. It's Tigerstar, not Deepforest.)  
**

**You all know the drill: Review!**

**Thanks for reading this short story!  
**


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